Studio Display XDR and my wallet's demise

[Jimmyjames]

Sorry for the noob question, but what work do folks that buy these displays need 120hz (or VRR/Adaptive Sync) for?

Apart from the huge gaming market on Mac, video editing can benefit greatly due to many clips having different frame rates. Also even stuff like scrolling large images in photoshop where frame rates drop. VRR can keep it looking smoother.

 

[diamond.g]

Apart from the huge gaming market on Mac, video editing can benefit greatly due to many clips having different frame rates. Also even stuff like scrolling large images in photoshop where frame rates drop. VRR can keep it looking smoother.

Does Apple publish the VRR window for their devices? As far as I can tell most devices only support VRR 48-120Hz. There are a few GSync devices that go to 40, but I've not seen many (any) support refresh rates for VRR less than that (should trigger LFC).

I also didn't think gaming on mac is that big (I've still not seen anyone show that VRR works on macOS, but I could be looking in the wrong places).

 

[Jimmyjames]

Does Apple publish the VRR window for their devices? As far as I can tell most devices only support VRR 48-120Hz. There are a few GSync devices that go to 40, but I've not seen many (any) support refresh rates for VRR less than that (should trigger LFC).

It’s the same on this display. 48-120hz.

I also didn't think gaming on mac is that big (I've still not seen anyone show that VRR works on macOS, but I could be looking in the wrong places).

That was my attempt at humour.

 

[casperes1996]

I have the same question. I've had my Studio Display for around three years plugged into a Mac Studio and use it every day. I purchased the Studio Display mainly for processing my photo image files in Lightroom, and getting tired of continually needing to calibrate my previous LG display with a calibration puck (and wasting lots of expensive ink and printer paper in the process) when making prints. With my Studio Display I set it up once using one its built-in profiles and haven't touched it since.

I also use my Mac Studio and Studio Display for other regular computer purposes, ie reading the news, writing letters, paying bills, participating in forums, doing research, etc. Even though my display has a 60 Hz refresh rate, I've never noticed that being irritating/flickering or in any way suboptimal (whether viewing a static page or scrolling). Perhaps that has something to do with display phosphor lifetime/decay - just a guess.

I know at another tech forum people make refresh rate out to be a huge deal. I suspect a lot of that is from people needing to criticize Apple daily (going back two decades) in order to feel good by asserting what they believe is some kind of power. Just another guess.

Video is definitely a use-case. ProMotion could work just as well for that though, nicely supporting 24, 25, 30, 50, 60 and high frame rate video signals. So ProMotion would be fine too but nice with VRR. Running at higher refresh rates generally also helps with response times and image persistence. And then there are also lunatics like me who will be utilising this, at least in part, for that huuuuge Mac gaming market

I also didn't think gaming on mac is that big (I've still not seen anyone show that VRR works on macOS, but I could be looking in the wrong places).

Absolutely humongous. We get several hundred listeners regularly now on the Mac Game Cast. (tongue in cheek; But we genuinely have seen a huge increase in gaming interest since Apple Silicon on the Mac. By no means a big gaming market but it is bigger than it's been the past 15 year I think. Probably even longer

 

[casperes1996]

Good news btw. It is now confirmed what happens when you plug in an unsupported MacBook Neo. It will just run at 4K60 but still work

 

[Vincent Hannah]

Higher refresh rate displays are much nicer once you get exposed to them. It's just that the vast majority of people have never used a desktop display with greater than 60Hz. Some people will notice the benefit more than others, the same way that some people notice non-native resolution interpolation more than others.

But the bigger benefit to the new Studio Display XDR is the 2,300 local dimming zones and the contrast/brightness/deep blacks they will enable.That should be noticeable to everyone. Whether those two features together are worth $3,300 I leave as an exercise for the reader.

 

[Andropov]

Sorry for the noob question, but what work do folks that buy these displays need 120hz (or VRR/Adaptive Sync) for?

I don't care much about high refresh rates (I can barely notice it) but it feels wrong spending $1700 in a monitor and not getting the same refresh rate as my 5+ years old MacBook Pro. Feels like buying something that's already outdated.